I proposed to Hommat that we go forward and reconnoiter.

He refused, and leaving him alone, I started forward.
I had gone but a short distance when a soldier came out from the camp with a bucket.

He began singing, and the song he sang convinced me that he was a Rebel.

Rejoining Hommat, we held a consultation and decided to stay where we were until it became darker, before trying to get out.
It was the night of the 22d of December, and very cold for that country.
The camp guard had small fires built, which we could see quite plainly.
After starting we saw that the pickets also had fires, and that we were between the two lines.

This discovery saved us from capture, and keeping about an equal distance between the two, we undertook to work our way out.
We first crossed a line of breastworks, then in succession the Fernandina Railroad, the Jacksonville Railroad, and pike, moving all the time nearly parallel with the picket line.